


Miss Americana (Nasty Woman)

by skylinesunflowers



Category: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: 2016 US Presidential Election, 2020 US Presidential Election, Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Non-Linear Narrative, stages of grief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27798040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylinesunflowers/pseuds/skylinesunflowers
Summary: Hillary Clinton, from disappointment to triumph.
Kudos: 7





	Miss Americana (Nasty Woman)

It fucking hurts to lose.

Hillary Clinton is not a curser. Sure, she’ll go for the occasional ‘damn’ or ‘hell’, but nothing more. She prefers to go for intelligently-worded insults. See: basket of deplorables.

> _Gary Johnson - Bill Weld_
> 
> _Jill Stein - Ajamu Barak_
> 
> _Donald J. Trump - Michael R. Pence_
> 
> _Hillary Clinton - Tim Kaine_

She wishes she could feel the way Bill did. They were so sure, so _ready_ for this. _So ready_.

But Bill has nothing to say. They aren’t prepared. They wrote a speech, but, God, Hillary isn’t ready to concede.

Hillary isn’t ready to see the disappointment in the eyes of all the women she let down, the triumph in Mike Pence’s eyes, or the man who’s ripped into her most vulnerable parts, over, and over, and over again.

> _“I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too, and so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful and it will be for a long time, but I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election, it was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.”—Hillary Clinton’s concession speech (full text) -[CNNPolitics](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/11/09/politics/hillary-clinton-concession-speech/index.html)_

She doesn’t absorb what’s happened till she goes home and lies in bed. Hillary can’t sleep. So she goes to the bathroom, bitter, and washes her face again. It’s scrubbed raw and red from the cold, and she begins to cry.

She goes downstairs to watch CNN analyze the election, to listen to everyone’s takes on what she’s done wrong. Her phone’s still buzzing. Besides the texts from Barack and Joe, she hasn’t replied to anyone.

If she sees Bernie Sanders’s smug face in the next week, she’ll kill him.

> _The Five Stages of Grief:_
> 
> _Denial_
> 
> _Anger_
> 
> _Bargaining_
> 
> _Depression_
> 
> _Acceptance_

Hillary can’t believe she’s going to the inauguration of Donald Trump. Sometimes, she wakes up from the same dream she had during the campaign, the one where Bill holds her Bible and she repeats the words.

They’re a mantra in her head, and Hillary holds her head high as she passes crowds who despise her. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. She’s here. Hillary will put on her game face for this today.

She wears white, and that’s half a statement and half a random color.

> _Early returns with less than half the vote counted showed Harris winning by more than 1.3 million votes.—Kamala Harris breaks a color barrier with her US Senate Win -[LA Times](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-senate-race-kamala-harris-wins-20161108-story.html%3f_amp=true)_
> 
> _“Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in as president,” Warren said to boos. “That sight is now burned into my eyes forever.”—Elizabeth Warren riles up Crowd at Women’s March in Boston -[The Boston Globe](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/01/21/warren-conjures-core-values-american-democracy-boston-women-march-speech/g3byHiglM6WEUioYpH33QI/story.html%3foutputType=amp)_

Hillary knows these women are going places. They’re hard workers, barrier breakers, people who stick by their statements and have plans.

She especially likes Elizabeth Warren. Maybe it’s because they have the same hair.

But Kamala Harris is a good choice. A strong choice. A diverse choice. If Joe doesn’t make it in 2020, Hillary’s kind of rooting for her.

> _“CNN can now project that Joe Biden will win the state of Texas.”—Chris Cuomo on Super Tuesday_

They celebrate when Joe wins on Super Tuesday. It’s as close to a Hillary win as it could be. She calls them late in the night, when its almost certain that Barack and Michelle have done the same, and tells Jill that she’s proud. She tells Joe that’s she’s proud.

And she’s even prouder when they pick Kamala D. Harris, a Black woman, daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, an up-and-comer, for Joe’s VP.

> _“CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr. is elected the forty-sixth president of the United States, winning the White House and denying President Trump a second term.”—Wolf Blitzer, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020_

Hillary’s accepted her loss. America wasn’t ready for a female president in 2016. She hasn’t lost any sleep over it for about three years. Even if it still seems like a dream.

Bill hugs her tight, and they call up Joe and Kamala. God, Kamala’s accomplished what everyone told them was a pipe dream. Pipe dream, her ass, because Kamala Harris is the first woman and the first person of color to ever become a Vice President.

She cries a little when she speaks to Kamala, who’s crying herself. They’re both crying because this is a win, such a big win, on all counts. They’ve _won_ , they won, and now they’re in the White House.

> _It's you and me_
> 
> _That's my whole world_
> 
> _They whisper in the hallway, "she's a bad, bad girl"_
> 
> _—Taylor Swift, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince_

After the endorsement, Hillary starts listening to Taylor Swift. She, Taylor, and Liz have things in common. They’re all blonde. They’ve all been called nasty and snakes. Snakes. Hillary can’t stand the animal.

She sends the song to Elizabeth Warren over text and makes Bill listen to it. They dance like in the old days, like when she was First Lady of Arkansas, then First Lady of the United States. Back when she was a senator. Before any of this started.

For a moment, the Clintons are an island. A moment, and then no more.

**Author's Note:**

> Ignore my Sanders salt, I don’t like him.


End file.
